Colin Dorgan, who lost three loved ones in a mass shooting at a Rhode Island hockey game last month, scored in overtime Wednesday in Blackstone Valley Schools’ 3-2 victory over Portsmouth in the state ice hockey semifinals.
With the score tied 2-2 during a four-on-four game in the second overtime, Dorgan scored on a breakaway, sending his team to next week’s Rhode Island Interscholastic League (RIIL) Division II boys ice hockey championship.
The player’s mother, Rhonda Dorgan, his brother, Aidan Dorgan, and his grandfather, Gerald Dorgan, were killed during a shooting on February 16 at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket.
Shooter Robert Dorgan, 56, the ex-husband of Rhonda Dorgan, who was also named Roberta, died of a self-inflicted wound during a fight with bystanders.
Colin Dorgan’s goal Wednesday night sparked a joyful celebration at Providence College’s Schneider Arena.
“I’ll tell you right now, there wasn’t a dry eye in the stands when that happened,” RIIL CEO Michael Lunney told NBC News on Thursday.
Lunney, former Portsmouth basketball coach and athletic director, said he could feel the entire Ocean State celebrating Colin Dorgan.
“It was really emotional,” Lunney said. “And I think the whole state needed that after what happened last month.”
BVS will play Lincoln High School on Wednesday at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence. The puck will drop at 4 pm EDT.
BVS is actually a cooperative of several different schools. Rhode Island allows small schools, which do not have enough players to form a single team, to combine to form a team.
Colin Dorgan is a senior at North Providence High School and his BVS teammates include players from Saint Raphael Academy, Smithfield High School, Johnston Senior High School and Providence Country Day School.
